Viewed: 13/12/22.
Director: Joseph Kosinski
Actors: Tom Cruise, Miles Teller, Jennifer Connelly, Monica Barbaro
Genre: Action / Drama
Rating: M
Whoops, forgot to do my ‘Top Gun:
Maverick’ review! I didn’t particularly love or hate the original Top Gun and
wasn’t sure it warranted a sequel, especially 36 years later, but this is pretty
fun. The plot’s purposefully minimal – the U.S. Navy needs Pete/Maverick
(Cruise) to train some new pilots to fight some unnamed foreign bad guys. Obviously,
this requires him to sit in a cockpit and show them how it’s done.
The new pilots are Bradley/Rooster (Teller
– the ‘Whiplash’ guy), Natasha/Phoenix (Barbaro), Jake/Hangman (Powell),
Reuben/Payback (Ellis) and Bob (Pullman). The drama comes from Rooster being Goose’s
son and the animosity that Maverick has created between them. There’s also
solid cameos from love interest Penny (Connelly), Iceman (Kilmer) in one scene,
and Warlock (Parnell) & Cyclone (Hamm) as the Navy bosses.
Cruise is as charismatic as ever, with
lots of jaw-clenching and trying to do the right thing, his way. The “new
recruits” are good and provide some energy to the plot, but the interplay
between Rooster and Maverick drives everything. However, as with the original,
the stars of the show are the aerial aerobatics performed by the F18s and other
planes and the stunts/editing that makes it so fun to watch. Predictable, if a
bit dumb ending, and it feels a lot quicker than 2 hours.
Overall: Enjoyable, plot-less joy-ride
Gav’s Rating: 4 stars.
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